Institutions for persons with disabilities It is positive that there was a change of awareness during the pandemic. However, it is also important to take precautions in good time in order to avoid care gaps in the event of new crisis situations. X All clients have a right to adequate and timely information even in crisis situations. The best possible communication channels should be used. X Staff shortages can worsen in crisis situations. Sufficient staff shall thus be ensured in normal times. X Social contacts should be facilitated as much as possible in emergency situations too. Activities close to the community should be a matter of course in normal times. 2.4.6 Lack of PPE and too little information According to many institutions and facilities, they did not have sufficient PPE at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. “We always worked with the fear that it would run out”, said the manager of a residential facility for persons with disabilities. This improved over time. In many cases not enough PPE could be organised. Some institutions received no FFP2 or FFP3 masks until the summer. Some institutions were very flexible and innovative. They tried to sew masks themselves when there were problems with supply, in order to guarantee a minimum level of infection prevention. Rapid availability of PPE imperative In order to be able to ensure the standards of hygiene necessary to reduce infection in crisis situations in the future, the rapid availability of PPE should be guaranteed. Some owners and operators of institutions have since started to build up central stores. This, however, is easier for larger service providers than for smaller operator organisations. The public administration should support owners and operators of institutions in crisis situations accordingly. Clear information on protective measures necessary But not only the procurement of hygienic PPE posed great challenges for the institutions. The information on using the PPE and on other hygiene and protective measures was perceived as insufficient by the staff in several facilities. In some cases, there was no hygiene training at all. Some facilities saw the responsibility for inadequate information management with the respective Laender. They felt abandoned in the beginning. They complained that there was merely information on statutory provisions available but that they had received no concrete directly applicable guidelines or support. For example, a COVID-19 guideline for psychosocial and addictionoriented institutions and facilities written by a Land was only presented in October 2020. 95